"
"Yes, that's good," she answered. "How you could have stayed so long--"
She dropped into a chair, closed her eyes and lay back. "Oh, Ivan
Andreievitch, but I'm tired!"
She looked, lying there, white-faced, her eyelids like grey shadows,
utterly exhausted. I waited in silence. After a time she opened her eyes
and said, suddenly:
"We all come and talk to you, don't we? I, Nina, Nicholas, Sherry (she
meant Lawrence), even Uncle Alexei. I wonder why we do, because we never
take your advice, you know.... Perhaps it's because you seem right
outside everything."
I coloured a little at that.
"Did I hurt you?... I'm sorry. No, I don't know that I am. I don't mind
now whether I hurt any one. You know that he's going back to England?"
I nodded my head.
"He told you himself?"
"Yes," I said.
She lay back in her chair and was silent for a long time.
"You think I'm a noble woman, don't you. Oh yes, you do! I can see you
just thirsting for my nobility. It's what Uncle Alexei always says about
you, that you've learnt from Dostoieffsky how to be noble, and it's
become a habit with you."
"If you're going to believe--" I began angrily.
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